What I Learned In San Antonio, And What We Missed

After a long weekend with 900 bankruptcy colleagues, I’ve been thoroughly reminded about all that remains to be learned about this marvelous profession. What did I learn, and what was missing?

I took my first bankruptcy case 32 years ago, and looking back, I blanch at what I didn’t know then. Even now, I see new angles, new complexities in a law I’ve been reading almost daily for more than 3 decades.

An Ocean Of Education

Lots of the learning this weekend happened in the formal presentations by judges and law professors at the NACBA 20th annual convention in San Antonio. Almost every panel chaffed against the constraints of time. Even subjects that seemed tidy and discrete threatened to overflow the allotted time.

But perhaps equally useful and stimulating was the learning that went on around the tables and in the hallways, where my teachers were my friends, old and new, from around the country. I’d hear that “my judge does it this way” or “I’m bringing cases that argue that”.

Someone would lean over and show me a software program or an operating system trick that saved time or filled a need. I tried live blogging, until the interest in the endeavor crashed our host’s server and they shut us down as a nuisance<g>.

Of course, no program is perfect. There was a critical piece of the puzzle that was missing from the weekend.

What We Missed In San Antonio

What didn’t get much play in San Antonio was the nitty-gritty issue of finding clients and making a living in the bankruptcy business. It doesn’t matter how well you know the Code; if you can’t draw people who both need you and can pay the freight for a fresh start then you’re engaging in an academic, rather than a commercial, endeavor.

There was a marketing discussion but, as I’ll leave to Jay when he’s ready to speak on the subject without hyperventilating, it was woefully inadequate. Some of the information provided was questionable, at best. Some of it could land an attorney in an ethical quandary if taken literally.

On June 9, 2012 Jay Fleischman and I will join forces at the Crowne Plaza Hotel – St. Louis Airport in (obviously) St. Louis for the Bankruptcy Practice Workshop, a day-long intensive live educational experience that happens to suffer from an exceptionally boring name. Brush aside boredom, and fend off involuntary dieting.

Sharpen your skills by learning:

how to attract more clients

how to ensure that your website is designed for maximum usability and conversions

how to get paid what you’re worth – not what the court arbitrarily sets as your “no look” fee

how to create online content that convinces your visitors to work with you – not your competition – while improving your search engine placement

how to use the most important WordPress plugins more effectively

how to build a profitable network online and offline

how to compete where the world seems to be a race to the bottom of the fee scale

how to budget your time among social and business media platforms

how to unearth the hidden gems in Adobe Acrobat to make your life easier

how to stack your office with low cost/high return products and procedures

how to grow your referral base quickly and easily

and more

As a reader of Bankruptcy Mastery, you can save $100 off the registration price when you use the Promo Code bkmllp at checkout.

Comments

Cathy: I attended your practice workshop when you were in Phoenix and it was great. I enjoyed the course becuase it was part “how-to” when it comes to running a bankruptcy practice and also had advice on various legal issues in the cases themselves. I would hope that NACBA would see the need to teach more marketing and practice management. Thanks for all you and Jay do.